Delicate, so frail now, almost <br />apologetic for their presence, <br />like the longtime bed-bound <br />taking their first unaccompanied walk, <br />hardly able to believe their fortune, on <br />this unexpected day of sunlight <br />offering hope to weakest winter body - <br />yet exploratory, determined, in <br />their frailty; invisibly heroic – <br /> <br />the tendrils of the jasmine explore, <br />survey with vegetable mind, the frontiers of the empire which <br />they plan to flood with scent some secret <br />time ahead; how can a stem that looks <br />like fine, dead wire, carry all the ruthlessness <br />of Nature’s will, in so tentative disguise? <br /> <br />the sunlight on this white winter wall, <br />as a slight breeze waves the exploratory tendrils, <br />throws up the sharp shadow of this filigree <br />like twin explorers of the year’s new world <br />dancing with each other; <br /> <br />a Japanese artist, seeking a new kimono <br />patterned to show where nature, <br />truth and beauty meet, might feel the need, <br />confronted by so delicate a sketch <br />of Spring’s new plans, <br />to grow as this jasmine, <br />exploring the unknown so carefully.<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/0114-winter-sunlight/
